1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with field of devices for processing articles carried upon a conveyor. Many various types of articles must be washed and dried in high speed operations upon a conveyor. Such articles can include baskets, buckets, trays, flats and other similarly shaped articles. The present invention provides a means for drying within such a process which is capable of being used with a great variety of differently sized articles.
Effective drying will not be achieved for small articles when the same drying height position is utilized as with larger articles. The release of drying air will be not close enough to the smaller articles in order to allow for efficient drying thereof. For this reason the present invention provides one or more movable drying heads connected by a flexible conduit means with respect to a blower means to facilitate drying of variously sized articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art devices utilized to facilitate drying within conveyor systems include U.S. Pat. No. 2,442,475 for an Egg Washing Machine patented June 1, 1948 to O. W. Swanson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,588,787 for an Egg Drier patented Mar. 11, 1952 to F. B. Wright; U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,435 for an Egg Washing Apparatus patented Aug. 31, 1965 to J. S. Kurtz; U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,419 for Egg Washing Equipment patented Oct. 31, 1967 to H. Y. Kuhl et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,235 for a Method For Floating And Drying A Web patented Nov. 13, 1973 to Minoda et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,635 for an Apparatus For Drying Plastic Trays patented Dec. 27, 1977 to H. Y. Kuhl; U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,831 for an Egg Drying Apparatus patented Nov. 13, 1979 to R. C. McCord; U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,113 for an Apparatus For Drying An Air-Borne Web patented July 15, 1980 to Karl-Hugo S. Andersson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,977 for a Distribution And Conveyor Apparatus For Eggs patented July 7, 1981 to van Kattenbroek; U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,455 for an Article Handling Apparatus patented Oct. 12, 1982 to Mumma et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,341 for a Spray Dryer patented Nov. 9, 1982 to D. H. Bergquist; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,887 for a System And Method For Dehydrating Produce patented Sept. 25, 1984 to Avedian et al.